Unstitching a blistered/flakey steering wheel

[SamuelBombero]

The steering wheel on my Qubo is awfully blistered and is peeling, looking at it I'm wondering if I unstitch it whether it would look better? Has anyone done this?

If I undo the stitches will it just remove that very top layer and expose the first layer of plastic? Or do the stitches run deeper?

 

[SamuelBombero]

Here is the offending article. So essentially does the stitching just hold the part that has already mostly flaked off and if I undo the stitching I can remove the rest?

 

[AndyRKett]

If you undo the stitching you end up with the whole leather cover coming off, this is surprisingly thick and the plastic steering wheel underneath is very thin and covered in glue so what you’ll end up with looks 100times worse than a few blistered bits. You could send it off to be recovered but that’s expensive maybe as much as £200, or you can get a sew on steering wheel cover which might be a cheaper option for at least tidying it up, but if would not be an exact fit.

Or look on eBay till you find a replacement steering wheel in nice condition

 

[SamuelBombero]

Thanks Andy, I won't be undoing the stitching then!

Either a replacement wheel or a cover it is, I did have a look at wheel covers last night and I'm not sure what looks worse; a sew on or stretch on one!